Epic Games has today announced sweeping changes to the Fortnite economy, starting March 19th for all players across all platforms.
The main change here is that from that date, players will get less V-Bucks for their money. Before these changes come into effect, $8.99 grants you 1000 V-Bucks - and from March 19, that drops down to 800 V-Bucks, with the bigger V-Buck bundles also following suit in granting less in-game currency for your real-world money.
Epic has provided us with a table to showcase these changes:
|
Pack* |
Previous |
New |
With Epic Rewards* |
|
$8.99 Pack |
1,000 V-Bucks |
800 V-Bucks |
+$1.79 back |
|
$22.99 Pack |
2,800 V-Bucks |
2,400 V-Bucks |
+$4.59 back |
|
$36.99 Pack |
5,000 V-Bucks |
4,500 V-Bucks |
+$7.39 back |
|
$89.99 Pack |
13,500 V-Bucks |
12,500 V-Bucks |
+$17.99 back |
|
Exact Amount Pack |
~$0.50* for 50 V-Bucks |
$0.99* for 50 V-Bucks |
But, what does this mean for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate? Well, Fortnite Crew — which is included in the Microsoft service at no extra cost — will begin granting players 800 V-Bucks instead of 1,000 V-Bucks each month. All of the existing battle passes will still be included in Fortnite Crew though, so it's just the currency change that'll affect Game Pass Ultimate users.
Another positive bit of news included here is that Epic is reducing the cost of its battle passes, in line with these currency changes. Each pass will cost 200 V-Bucks less than before, which means that if you're someone who buys the in-game currency just to grab these passes, the price hikes won't really affect you. They'll have a stronger affect on those who use V-Bucks to buy cosmetics outright; we suspect this is where Epic is really trying to bump prices.
The final wrinkle to all of this is that bonus V-Buck rewards — which can be earned once main battle passes are completed — are disappearing. Players will now just earn back the cost of the battle pass rather than anything extra, making the whole system a little stingier than before.
You can take a look at Epic's full explanation of these changes via the blog post link down below.